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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28762611">a peaceful state of mind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro29/pseuds/Ro29'>Ro29</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Messing around in the Soft Wars Sandbox [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Barriss Offee has a Crush, Bookbinding, CC-1004 | Gree is a Good Brother, Crafts, Embroidery, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Inspired by Soft Wars Series - Project0506, Talking and crafting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:08:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28762611</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro29/pseuds/Ro29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Barriss slips into the room, sleen-swift and quieter than a leaf fall.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CC-1004 | Gree &amp; Barriss Offee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Messing around in the Soft Wars Sandbox [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937752</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>128</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Open Source Soft Wars</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a peaceful state of mind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/gifts">Project0506</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/gifts">SailorSol</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/gifts">Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29125791">thoughts settled between pages</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro29/pseuds/Ro29">Ro29</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you to Projie for letting me mess around in your sandbox, to Sol for the help (and thus the line that, added to the talk of bookbinding lately, inspired me to do this), and thank you to PBP for helping me figure out all the bookbinding stuff and listen to me ramble about all my hc's about Bookbinder Gree XD</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Barriss slips into the room, sleen-swift and quieter than a leaf fall.</p><p> </p><p>He tracks her out of the corner of his eyes, finishes folding the signature carefully, and smoothes a finger along the folded edge. Inspects it for a second before deeming it good and sets it with the other one he’s finished, glances up to check on her.</p><p> </p><p>The little room is out of the way, mostly unused and smaller than the General’s or Barriss’s corridors, but it’s big enough for it to be comfortable. With a desk and chairs and a small corner that has slowly grown more and more overrun with blankets and pillows as the war goes on. It’s good for stealing some down time by yourself.</p><p> </p><p>Somewhere under the blanket pile is, supposedly, a couch that appeared there one day after Barriss had put down her work and laid on the floor with a wince and a sigh.</p><p> </p><p>If Gree is ever asked about it, it is there purely because he and the others got tired of only having stiff, uncomfortable, chairs to sit in. It is the same response, word for word, that he gave Barriss the next time she slipped in, overwhelmed and so very young, and saw it.</p><p> </p><p>She’d still set a new blanket on his bed the next day — stitches a little clumsily done, but so very soft, one that he’d remembered seeing her work on for a while now — and he’d found a new puzzle cube on his desk by the end of the ten-day. The others had mentioned, offhand and with a smile, similar things popping up in their quarters.</p><p> </p><p>She’s thoughtful, their little Commander.</p><p> </p><p>She takes the blankets and arranges them carefully, sets a few of them aside and sinks into the rest of them, takes her supplies out of her bag and arranges it all around her carefully.</p><p> </p><p>He hums, reaches for the pages to make up the last signature, “Finish your lessons?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes,” she says, threads her needle with a soft blue thread. It is, he notes, <em>suspiciously</em> close to 501st blue. It makes Gree pause, look at the cloth she’s holding and narrow his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>She notices and laughs a little, light and happy. It’s a nice sound, he hasn’t been hearing enough of it lately.</p><p> </p><p>“I still prefer Green to Torrent,” she reassures him, hands steady as she pulls the thread through, “but it’s for a friend, and blue is their favourite."</p><p> </p><p>Gree hums, the words she says are right but there’s something there, he thinks, just at the edges of it all. He folds the last signature, checks it over and sets it with the others.</p><p> </p><p>“Good, you might break Decker’s heart and then where will we be?”</p><p> </p><p>Barriss’s lips tip up into a little smile and she ducks her head, “Decker will be fine,” she says, with the air of someone who’s seen Decker’s moping and knows he’ll come back from it with enough persuading.</p><p> </p><p>He stretches, back and shoulders cracking and he catches the wince out of the corner of his eye. Barriss wrinkles her nose, flashes him a look of concern that he still hasn’t managed to make go away no matter how many times it’s been explained that Humans just do that sometimes.</p><p> </p><p>He hums, “So, a friend?”</p><p> </p><p>Barriss splutters a bit, ducks her head, taps the edge of the embroidery hoop, and yeah, there it is.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes,” she says, going for calm and neutral and missing the mark by a bit, tilting more towards anxious and excited, “Ahsoka, she’s a Togruta and they get cold easily, and she keeps stealing socks to cover her lekku when they it’s chilly so I figured I’d get her some?”</p><p> </p><p>She flushes, dark, voice tilting up at the end, and she pokes the needle through the fabric, looking every bit the fifteen years she is.</p><p> </p><p>Gree grins. She’s sweet, their padawan, and she’s been sweet on Torrent’s <em>vod’ika</em> for a while now.</p><p> </p><p>Mack has been gleefully outraged about it, but Gree has money on it being Decker who sneaks out to chaperone outings the two padawans have whenever they get it together enough to realize they like each other.</p><p> </p><p>“She’ll like it,” Gree says, warm and reassuring, and the anxious line in Barriss’s posture eases a bit.</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t know that,” she says with a frown.</p><p> </p><p>Gree hums, marks — lightly — where he wants the holes to go in each of the signatures.</p><p> </p><p>“No,” he acknowledges, checking to make sure the holes line up as close as they can and readjusts one that’s a bit too far apart.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t, but I know that she’ll like it <em>regardless</em> because you gave it to her,” he looks up, meets Barriss’ eyes, “because it shows that you thought of her and want to make sure she’s okay and comfortable.”</p><p> </p><p>She smiles, makes another stitch with a quiet, “Thank you, Gree.”</p><p> </p><p>He grins, gives her a fond look, “Of course, Sir.”</p><p> </p><p>The tension in her posture is gone now, and she’s sinking happily into the comfort of the corner, working quietly and steadily. He smiles and sets one of the signatures up in front of him, takes the awl and works slowly, carefully, to punch the holes, slipping into concentration.</p><p> </p><p>It’s quiet and calm, and it helps to drain the hardship from the campaign away. Turn it into something useful and easier to manage.</p><p> </p><p>It’s nice, and Gree wishes there were more moments like this. For the men’s sake, for Barriss’ sake, for the General’s sake.</p><p> </p><p>The men don’t get as much downtime as they probably should, not with the Sep’s karking everything up left and right. Luminara carries more and more stress with her as the war dredges on and still finds time to slip him contact info to the Order’s bindery. Barriss is fifteen and having to fight and maybe in love and still stumbles over saying ‘<em>kark</em>’ aloud but can swear like any other brother in sign. They all deserve more of these quiet moments.</p><p> </p><p>He finishes punching the holes, reaches for the next signature and repeats the process, checks on Barriss and finds her deep in her work, relaxed and peaceful and like she’s slipped into the half-meditations she does sometimes.</p><p> </p><p>He smiles, settles in and concentrates on getting the holes in this signature all as neat and lined up as he can.</p><p> </p><p>They work, and the ship moves on through space, taking them to the next place they need to be and the next battle they need to fight.</p><p> </p><p>But for now, there is peace.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you want to find me other places I have a <a href="https://rose-blooms-red.tumblr.com">writing tumblr</a> and a <a href="https://themessofthecentury.tumblr.com">fandom tumblr</a> </p><p>Please come yell at me about Star Wars and DC!</p></blockquote><div class="children module" id="children">
  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
  <ul>
    <li>
        <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29125791">thoughts settled between pages</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro29/pseuds/Ro29">Ro29</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div></div></div>
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